1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a network diagnostic tool and relates particularly, but not exclusively, to a diagnostic tool for mapping the position of network nodes on a local area network (LAN).
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is generally known that the transmission time between a transmission station and respective reception stations of a network may be measured. For example, the invention described in JP-A-601950 requires a transmitting station to perform a transmission to station Y, which then acknowledges, and then a separate transmission to station Y', which then also acknowledges. The transmitting station itself determines the time difference between the respective acknowledgements in order to determine the difference in transmission times to the respective stations. However, the technique described in JP-A-601950 is not suitable for implementing a network diagnostic tool suitable for mapping the position of network nodes on a local area network since it would require every network station to be capable of calculating or implementing an accurate time interval between packet transmissions and receipts. Such a system is impractical for this purpose and would be unnecessarily expensive. It is instead desirable to use a standard network node which need not perform additional operations exclusively for the purpose of diagnostic measurements.